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Embassy of Finland in Moscow, the Russian Federation :

Kropotkinsky str., 15/17.
Phone: 246-40-27
Fax: 230-27-38, 247-33-80
Visa office: 247-31-25
Fax: 247-33-01
Telex: 413246

General Consulate of Finland in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation - WEB-site

Embassy of France in Moscow, the Russian Federation:

Bolshaya Yakimanka str., 45.
Tel. (7 095) 937 1500
Fax (7 095) 937 1446
Telex: 413290 AMPRS SU
Military Attache: 236-00-03
Fax: 222-15-45
Phone: 237-87-40, 237-87-55, 237-98-74
Telex: 413325

Ambassade de France en Russie:

45 Bolchaïa Iakimanka,
117049 Moscou
Tel. (7 095) 937 1500
Fax (7 095) 937 1446

French Trade Commission - WEB-site

Russia - Background

Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities. In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific. Under PETER I (ruled 1682-1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire. During the 19th century, more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the imperial household. The Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the Communist period. While some progress has been made on the economic front, recent years have seen a recentralization of power under Vladimir PUTIN and an erosion in nascent democratic institutions. A determined guerrilla conflict still plagues Russia in Chechnya.

Embassies in Russian Federation Foreign Embassies to the Russian Federation Embassies of Other Nations to Russia See also: Russian Embassies See also: The World Factbook - Russian Federation See also: The News from Russia

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